Kami is incredible all the time! I love her skating style, her attitude – everything, basically = <3 🙂

PLUS SHE LIVES ON A BOAT!

I know! It’s like, I’m sorry, how do you have time to basically be the coolest person in the world AND an amazing roller derby player? Because I can’t even do one of those things :p Also, she’s one of the only other derby girls I know of (I’m sure more of us exist) who DOESN’T DRINK! There are not enough <3s in the world for Kamikaze Kitten…

Some of the Rockers took up brooms, mops and scrubbing brushes this evening to clean the floor of our new warehouse – a warehouse that is the size of a mid-sized aircraft hangar. Less than a quarter of the way through the buffer failed and we had to do the rest scrubbing on our hands and knees!

It took five solid hours to do the whole thing, with only one 20 minute break – for pizza and beer. Lots of hard work, but fun. Hopefully the floor can get sorted properly and be skateable soon 🙂

It was truly amazing. I love the Brighton Rockers so much – we beat the Romsey Town Rollerbillies by NINE POINTS. So the Rockers are still undefeated! And I played! And Bash kept putting me on when it got difficult, so I am so very very happy.

At one point three of the Romsey blockers hit me at once. I was told this at the afterparty, because I didn’t even notice it had happened and hardly moved at all. I am pleased. I fell over twice – once in each half. And I didn’t get a single penalty – not even a minor!

So my friend Elly and I are starting a derby business! It’s called “Get Rolling” and we’re renting out wheels because it sucks that the only ways you can try out wheels at them moment are to borrow them off someone you know, or buy them and not to be able to return them if they aren’t right for you.

Right now we’re finalising the last few details so the website isn’t available yet, but you should check out our facebook page to find out when we go live! 🙂

So my friend Elly and I are starting a derby business! It’s called “Get Rolling” and we’re renting out wheels because it sucks that the only ways you can try out wheels at them moment are to borrow them off someone you know, or buy them and not to be able to return them if they aren’t right for you.

Right now we’re finalising the last few details so the website isn’t available yet, but you should check out our facebook page to find out when we go live! 🙂

A few months ago, I had written about the Knee Down Start. It is a loophole of the rule set currently being played in WFTDA regulation games that the Gotham Girls have made into an art form. When it hit the derby scene, it was thought to be a fad. It was thought to be used for one specific…

(warning for lots of words. I do this after every training session, thought I’d share this one)

Things I need to work on:

Know when to shut up. This is something I need to work on for life in general, but it does apply to derby too. It’s harder in derby because you have to keep talking to your teammates, and once I turn on the talky part of my brain I CANNOT PAUSE IT. I have no pause button. This is common among people with Aspergers Syndrome, but that face doesn’t make people any less annoyed with you 😉

Don’t just keep hitting someone over and over again if you’re just bouncing off them- try something different. In theory I KNOW this, and yet as soon as I get into a scrimmage it’s like the kid inside me takes over and goes “YEAH HIT ‘EM AGAIN” when in fact it would be more effective to go for a lean or skip in front and booty block them.

Penalties to avoid: I got called for a couple forearm minors and one minor track cut, and one major low block. The low block was an unfortunate accident, one of the opposing players was already falling and happened to fall into my leg and I got the penalty. Annoying, but that’s how it is. Need to get some advice on how to avoid those forearm minors because I have no idea.

CAN OPENERS. I’m not sure this will ever be my specialty. I think I did okay considering that we were learning them for the first time, but I hit a lot of ribs and tits and less solar plexus. These are only really effective on someone taller than you, I think.

I need to sort out my feelings about hitting people. I hit one of the other rookies during a scrimmage with a brilliant, completely legal hard hit but she fell backwards and hurt her coccyx. How do you balance the guilt of being part of someone getting injured with the “FUCK YEAH” feeling of laying on a really awesome block?

Got an elbow to the head twice from the same person while scrimmaging and the refs didn’t catch it either time, which I found really annoying. I know she’s not doing it on purpose, and they’re not missing it on purpose, but still. Elbow + Head = Dangerous. That’s why there are no high-block minors! Maybe I should get one of those impact stickers that thy use for testing car crashes on my helmet? 😉

Good stuff: I’m sprawling less and falling small more. This is good. My confidence in jumping/hopping is getting better (we did a brilliant drill for this). Getting more confident in shoulder checks. Still prefer hip-checks though. All of a sudden tonight my speed jumped way up. No idea why, although at the end of the three hours it fell way down but I think that’s acceptable 🙂

If anyone made it through all that and has any thoughts/advice/pointers please share them, I will make you cake. It might be virtual cake, but it’s the thought that counts, right? 😉

Roller derby enthusiastically celebrates a very healthy idea of sexuality. You’re sexy because you’re strong and athletic, not because you’re underfed and falling all over yourself to please some boy who totally doesn’t even deserve it.

Yesterday I read “Whip It” by Shauna Cross. I saw the movie last year, by recommendation of my aunt, and really enjoyed it. The book is charming, witty and hilarious. I found Bliss, with her blue hair and thrift store finds, to be very relateable and realistic. The clashing worlds of pageants and…

While it’s easy to learn proper skating techniques, blocks, falls, and recoveries, learning to become more aggressive can be a challenge. With the right training, anyone can become a derby super star.

Aggressive skating is a technical advantage in derby and the best skaters are always aggressive as well as defensive in their movements. Positional blocking is effective, but aggressive manuevers take a good skater to great.

Tips and Tricks

Get Comfortable: The best way to increase your aggressive skating abilities is to become one with your skates. Aggressive skaters know what their skates can do and trust them when skating. Try leaning more when performing crossovers and skate the edges of your wheels. This helps you to learn how your skates and wheels operate and allows you to begin trusting them as you roll out.

Learn to Lean: Practice leaning when you skate. Lean into turns and practice sliding stops (slide to the side with both feet together). Partner up with another skater and practice leaning into each other while skating. Alternate between shoulder leans and hip leans until they feel natural. Work on keeping your wheels from locking with your partners wheels and try to stay connected while you lap the track.

Hit Everything: Use your hips and shoulders as much as possible throughout the day. Hip check doors open, the shower wall, trash cans, etc. Shoulder check the same way. Look around you and find something to hit and keep on hitting it! I used a concrete pillar in a parking garage for quite awhile. Practicing hits helps you to feel confident when engaging another skater on the track and the more comfortable you are with it, the more aggressively you will skate.

List Your Strengths: Knowing your advantages can also increase aggressive skating abilities. When you realize how awesome you are at certain skills, confidence increases and helps when attempting other skills. Track your progress and set goals. Be happy with your accomplishments and journal your milestones so you can look back when feeling down. Reaching new goals will help you to attempt more complicated skills and improve your aggressiveness at the same time.

Have No Fear: Learn to use your pads and trust them like you trust your skates. Knowing how to fall diminshes fear and hesitation when engaging in a pack. Practicing hits is the best way to lose your fear, so find another skater and practice hits until you can send her (or him) flying. Having confidence in your ability to land an awesome hit allows you to hit harder and more often, instead of hesitating.

Stop Hesitating: This goes along with the saying, “Hit first and think later”. If you have mastered the other tips, there is no reason left to hesitate. Hit, hit, hit and then look back at what you could have done better. The best skaters go all out, and don’t hold back. Remember: the harder you hit, the more respect you are showing for the other skater. Hesitating can also cause injuries, so go for it!

Leave Your Comfort Zone: When skating, try things that make you feel uncomfortable. Challenge yourself as often as you can and never tell yourself something is impossible. Try hitting the skate park or take a long outdoor adventure. Jump over cracks and lines or something larger.

Pump Yourself Up: Push yourself harder by making noises. Growl, grunt, yell…do what you can do to get amped up. Make the conscience decision not to hold back anything, and then put your all into each hit you deliver. Try to push it even more each time, until you are hitting like a super beast every time!

“The amazing thing about roller derby is that there is no ideal body type. “I’m five foot nothing, and weigh 90 pounds, I couldn’t play roller derby.” Are you kidding me? As a jammer, you’re going to be untouchable! “I’m over six feet tall and built like a brick shit-house, I could never keep up with some of those skaters”. And just what do you think the chances are of somebody being able to knock you down? In roller derby, every physical attribute you possess brings something to the table. If you’re short, you can squeeze through tiny holes. If you’re tall, you can take up the entire track with your plow. If you’re a feather weight, you’ll learn to bounce between blockers and off the floor like you’re comprised entirely of Silly Putty. If you’ve got a solid build, you will send skaters flying, and be able to withstand just as much.

You stop seeing these once-undesirable aspects of yourself as horrible defects – in fact; you might stop seeing them altogether. The attributes of my body I am most proud of have certainly changed since I became a skater – while I used to take great joy in wearing waist-cinching belts to prove that some part of me was, indeed, “skinny”, these days I love nothing more than tightening my quads and prodding at them, then high-fiving myself about how solid they feel.

Most importantly, I no longer see parts of my body as anything other than tools – tools I use to carry myself around, to skate, to hit, to jump, to sit, to stand, and to dance at after-parties. The bits that used to be my worst enemies are now treasured allies. And for that, I thank roller derby.”